These results indicate that the rate of alterations in the p15 and p16 genes is low for lymphomas, but loss of p16 and/or p15 may be involved in the development of some lymphomas.
Acute/lymphomatous ATLL has frequent alterations of p15 (20%) and p16 (28-67%), while chronic/smoldering ATLL has fewer abnormalities of p15 (0-13%) and p16 (5-26%).
This confirms the p16-methylated status in Hodgkin's cases described in a single previous study and adds information concerning the p15 gene that was also found to be methylated in this lymphoma subtype.